[shaker455]

Anyone have a Barred Owl living near them?

I have one in my back yard/woods and he uses me to hunt for squirrels & chipmunks
He follows me around if I'm out in the woods looking for an opportunity.
Then he's is quick to swoop in for the catch of the day.

[dataway]

Owls have got to be one of the coolest animals there is. Had a snowy owl watching my back porch one winter, would sit in a tree 30 feet a way .... he was facinated by the small mammals I was catching in a trap on the porch. Had an ermine that would try to get them too.

Good way to attract some fun predators is to catch a chipmunk or something in a Have-a-Heart trap and let them sit there on the porch.

[Chief of the 60's]

I had a Bald Eagle perched on top of a telephone pole in my yard near the road yesterday. Pretty cool. Wish I would have had my camera though.

[tempest1964]

I have barred owls where I live. Rarely do I see them in daylight. At night, when I hear them calling, I will call back. My dog doesn’t like it when I talk with the owls.

[shaker455]

Originally Posted by dataway

Owls have got to be one of the coolest animals there is. Had a snowy owl watching my back porch one winter, would sit in a tree 30 feet a way .... he was facinated by the small mammals I was catching in a trap on the porch. Had an ermine that would try to get them too.

Good way to attract some fun predators is to catch a chipmunk or something in a Have-a-Heart trap and let them sit there on the porch.

Not interested in catching anything, We have a pest problem with Squirrels being a around here as they try to get into the houses.

Target practice helps reduce numbers which is rare...more fun to watch them try to figure out where it came from.
Apparently they are on most local wildlife's menu.

[shaker455]

Originally Posted by tempest1964

I have barred owls where I live. Rarely do I see them in daylight. At night, when I hear them calling, I will call back. My dog doesn’t like it when I talk with the owls.

My guy is around in the day often,
He was hooting up a storm last night cause I think he bagged a big one earlier.
Hope he does not think I'm infringing on his turf
One time I did not realize I was right under him and I was hearing him snapping his beak at me...I'm sure it was a too close warning.

[shaker455]

Originally Posted by Chief of the 60's

I had a Bald Eagle perched on top of a telephone pole in my yard near the road yesterday. Pretty cool. Wish I would have had my camera though.

Where are you located Chief?

[Goatracer1]

We also have owls in/around the yard. I don't know what kind but it's brown, white and BIG. There is more that one since I can hear them call to each other. They are also out during the day. It is big enough that I keep an eye on it when my dachshund is out in the yard.

[67drake]

I was driving down a road leading to my town over the winter. I came up fast (I was going down a steep hill) on an owl sitting in the middle of the road. I slammed the brakes on just in time to not run him over! I couldn’t figure out why he didn’t fly away. My wife and I got out to check him out. He was only 1’ from the front of my truck, lucky him. We figured he was injured, so we coaxed him into a dog crate we had with us. Next day we took him to a animal rehabilitation shelter in Madison. They said he probably had a concussion. They nursed him back to health and came out a few months later and released him where we had picked him up.
I’m right on the Wisconsin river, so bald eagle sightings are weekly. They’re usually eating road kill. I had one circling overhead last week while I was out working on a property I own. I still get a kick out of seeing them!

[shaker455]

Wow good stories!

[Chief of the 60's]

Originally Posted by shaker455

Where are you located Chief?

WNY

Not far from the Alabama Swamps - https://www.fws.gov/refuge/iroquois/

The past few years there have been more and more sightings of Eagles, Hawks and Snowy Owls than have been in 20+ years. First one I've ever seen actually perched in my yard. Big suckers.

[shaker455]

Yes they are showing up here in the Merrimack river valley of MA & NH.
A few years ago I was golfing next to the river and either a "huge" hawk or Eaglet was in a tree looking right at me...I played my ball next to the woods and got the heck out of there!

[77 TRASHCAN]

Back in late 90's I was married to a crazy woman....well any hey. She had cats, too many. Her 2 daughters were awesome, I wish some of that had rubbed off on the mother...

She would let the cats out at night. Every once in a while one would disappear. Lost several cats. Made girls sad. I was talking to across street neighbor one evening, doing yard work, (we lived in the middle of a town of about 18,000, still do, different area).
Neighbor says something about cats, told her ours had been disappearing. She said some of hers had done same. She told me she thought an owl had been getting them. I'm thinking, yeah, sure, in town??? Not long after, late in the evening, I'm in the front yard, doing nothing...I see something fly out of the backyard neighbors tall pine tree.

I look up at nearly crapped myself!!! It wasn't just an owl, it was a HUGE ASS owl. Wing span looked to be 6-8 feet across. It's feathers looked like dark gray fuzz. An incredible creature!!! The whole town was likely it's territory, nothing was going to confront or challenge this monster!!!

Told a good friend at church about it, he and his wife have cats, they lose one here, and there...told him it was a BIG owl...end of conversation...LOL...A few months later at church, he's looking for me...has his eye's WIDE open with this look, on his face, says, I SAW IT!!! I'm going??? What? He says, I SAW that owl..

[shaker455]

That's crazy!
No cats here.
So far he does not seem to want to tangle with a human "but" I'm assuming nothing after getting a chipmunk to move in a tree and see the owl swoop and circle the tree not even 10 feet away from me to snag his prey.
And day before same deal with a squirrel
Clearly I'm in his turf and he's intelligent enough to take advantage of it.

[Chris65LeMans]

Wow - I was going to describe the ones in my neighborhood as “big’” but I’d bet that one with the 6 foot wingspan could eat the local coyotes, too.

When I take walks at night, I’ll bring a flashlight. If I hear an owl, I can usually find him if he’s close by.

[TAKerry]

I have a customer with a large farm and many outbuildings. We were doing some cleanup in one of the old, unused barns. Opened the door and I guess we spooked the owl that was living in there as he swooped down at us and into the wind. That thing was huge, may not have had a 6' span but i bet it was close!

There are more eagles than one can count on the Susquehanna not far from my house. They have become such a common sight that its not that big of a deal to see them now.

[Keith Seymore]

We put up a house specifically for a barred owl but, sadly, no takers yet.

K

[Steve C.]

I have a owl box, it is built to resemble a tree hollow or cavity. For years I've had it up on the side of a tree and we have Eastern Screech Owls that occupy it. It's a box build special for them.
Right now I think they are raising young birds.

http://www.owlshack.com/

Sometimes it will take months before a box is occupied. I gave one to my son and it took about a year before a owl started using it.


.

[David Jones]

No owls, but plenty of other raptors. There's a big red tailed hawk that keeps the little critters running. The crows drive it crazy.

[Firedup6975]

Owls are very interesting birds, only ever saw the screech owls, but hear the barn owls at night when the air is still.